BANGKOK — After spending more than three decades cooking in an unassuming outdoor kitchen, a wok-wielding, goggles-wearing Thai chef has been propelled to international culinary stardom by having her restaurant awarded a Michelin star.

BURBANK, Calif. — In the soundstage where Johnny Carson and Jay Leno spent four decades filming “The Tonight Show,” a former Washington State computer science student named Seagull is pursuing a South Korean teenager with a very big gun.

About a year ago, the lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u at Kilauea Volcano’s summit was high enough that spattering on the lake surface was commonly visible from the Jaggar Museum overlook in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Although nighttime glow from the lava lake remains impressive, direct views of spattering lava are now less common because the lake level gradually dropped since that time.

Sekihan, or red bean rice, is a traditional dish served during celebratory occasions such as birthdays, weddings and special events. We always depended on our older generation relatives to make it for us, such as my sister’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Hisako Hiraki. Unfortunately, as they age or are no longer with us, it becomes our responsibility to continue the tradition.

Despite frigid temperatures plaguing some parts of the U.S., winter does have unique charms, whether it’s getting cozy by a fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate in a mountain inn or heading outdoors to a magical landscape of forests and mountains sparkling with snow.